How should BioWare move forward with Mass Effect?

I don't recall calling you melodramatic. 

I like a direct sequel to ME3
I like a direct sequel to MEA
I like them to remake the trilogy
I like them to have Hawke for another game. Hmmm wrong Bioware team
I like them to have the Inquisitor in another game. Damn. I did it again. Wrong Bioware team

A reasonable attitude. Reasonable criticism doesn't get an IP shelved. The hint of an outcry on par with the ME3 endings might, in this case. Financial reasons certainly would.

Honestly, I suspect that those of us who'd like a sequel are screwed. This game was a bit of a dice roll, or testing of the post-ME3 waters. Unfortunately, those waters are still full of piranhas. Most of the criticism leveled at BioWare hasn't been balanced or sensible since 2010. It wouldn't at all surprise me if ME gets shelved for a long time. I bluntly predicted this outcome just before release, as the "reviews" began to appear. People here got pissy and said I was being overly dramatic. I really wasn't, as time has sadly revealed.

Tom did a great job even if the writing of his character wasn't that good.

Maybe we'll see a Sequel of ME:A or the Shepard Triology in 10 years or so. Maybe something like the Enderal mod for Skyrim but for ME:A as a fan project. Hopefully not with the same law enfrindgement that they did with the fanmade KoTor Project.
Hopefully with a better story pacing and better written characters. Or more interesting npcs as a whole. And I hope they find the airlock to throw those terrible ideas of open world as a must have in Mass Effect out. Maybe let the "exploring" be optional for those who like to drive with the Nomad or get us smaller hubworlds like the Citadel but with wildlife and fauna & shorter but meaningful for the mainstory sidecontent.
And maybe - someday - there will be a creative and brave soul that wishes to create appealing character face models out there.

So long I let Mass Effect rather rest - though I was intrigued by ME:A it is the first game I never finished from Bioware. 99 hours in and still can't force me to end the thing. Never had experienced this before. I love the franchise and I hope it will get one day the shining light back that it deserves - created from people who love the franchise and want to tell an engaging story in the ME Universe. Without restrictions from corporations, time or money issues.

Months of physiotherapy like those we got in ME2 I assume?

In a hypothetical post-reaper war game, if Shepard was still a front-line combatant like she was throughout the first 3 games, that would be kind of an insult to the character. Shepard should be like: "What's a bitch gotta do to get some rank around here?"

I prefer a direct sequel as well. I want to see these characters grow - that's what I loved about the OT - and see the writers (or new ones) build on all the things they left open with this one.

I would prefer it if it was less 'we watched The Guardians of the Galaxy and played the Citadel DLC one too many times' and more serious. I don't even mind a jokey tone, but it seemed highly at odds with the story they were telling in this game. And at times it was just too much; it felt like an older team trying to emulate 'youth culture', and the new athletic outfit isn't helping change that idea. Having said that, I do like Ryder and would want them to return, but just be more serious, see them grow up.

I'd also like there to be some actual high stakes next time around, here it just felt like the second Ryder arrives everything only improved. And I never felt like Ryder or the Initiative itself could fail. Even your squad is loyal no matter what. At the very least I would have expected Peebee to walk out if I didn't do her loyalty mission - after all she tells you this is just temporary, you'd assume you have to befriend her to make her consider the Tempest her home.

There are things from this game that I would love to see explored properly. Like the Jardaan, or what the Angara were created for. Was the Scourge a natural phenomenon or a weapon created to fight the Jardaan. And of course more about the Initiative's true beginnings.

I don't recall the discussion was about how rational the anger at Refusal was... though I do remember agreeing with those at the time that this was one of many reactions by Bioware that came across as giving customers the middle finger. 

I will buy any game that has Mass Effect in the title if its stylistically consistent with the past 4.

I loved Andromeda. I love Bioware games. I hope this doesn't kill them, people just have meltdowns after every release lol. This is nothing compared to the ME3 SHITSTORM but it reminds me of my own irrational hatred of DAI, which I'm playing again soon to see if I was right.

I would like to see a direct sequel, but the stakes have to be higher, with a more darker tone and theme. With the recordings Ryder found, there has to be some sort of urgency to find out what happened in the Milky Way. I wouldn't mind having Ryder somehow travel back to the Milky Way to find out what happened there while also building upon what he started in the first game and maybe have the Kett or some other entity take advantage of that while the team is split.

Alot can happen in 600 years tho....if it was possible for Ryder to go back, at this point the Milky Way i think would have recovered from the Reaper threat. I personally would like Ryder to return to a Milky Way that has been ravaged by the Reaper threat and finding maybe another universal threat that surrounds the dark matter storyline.

And maybe using some form of space magic to get to the Milky Way in a much shorter time than 600 years.... .....i think ultimately people want to know what happened in the MW. They need to hire stronger writers for the story and character development tho.